Robson Square Renovations

[dreambrother808]

The Cambie location would nice but not really a substitute for the Robson one. I just don't see how the foot traffic is ever going to match Robson Square no matter what is built there.

[Zassk]

Close Robson and run a streetcar or LRT down the whole length of it, from Denman to the stadium.

[twoNeurons]

Not to worry... Erickson will fade in peoples memories soon enough. How many architects from the 70s do you actually remember?

People come and go... no matter how much effort they make to make their mark, very very few... apart from the most notorious of the notorious get remembered... and not for something positive. Note, I'm not saying that there's no point in trying... just that people's memories fade very quickly after you're gone. Life goes on, and things that were all so important no longer are.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by Login650

Actually - Robson Square was originally designed to be closed to traffic. So it would be, you know, a plaza. Part of the reason it's always been dysfunctional as a public space is because we've got a road running through it.

The fact that this 'stupid' thing is constantly jam-pakced with people lounging and relaxing would seem to indicate that it does fill a need.

I would humbly suggest that every other street downtown accommodates cars - I don't think it's unreasonable to have 1 block of space to chill.

I think this fake beach shows something is missing from the square. People are laying of dog urine infested carpet because that is all there is. People like sitting around, and that is something Robson Square doesn't do. You don't need to close the street to cars, you need to open the space for sitting. Instead of building a plywood eyesore, they could have removed the waist high rat infested bushes and plant actual grass.

The demand for something soft to sit on only shows that the redesigned missed the mark. If they had put in a grassy hill instead of a bushy hill, we wouldn't need this thing sitting in the road.

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

I FULLLLLY agree ... he majorly missed the mark. The layout and function and materials used ... are so very piss poor. the upkeep was below par (hedges left to grow wild for crack heads to use as cover, etc) and that helped to turn it into the eye sore it was before this reno started ... but still.

SUB PAR DESIGN for such a important space in the city. End of story

I think the rest of the square offers potential. The space under the street with the spectator seating like stairs makes for good space for buskers (The busiest buskers I've seen in Vancouver this year have been showing in the square down there). It is a good space for small concerts. The ice rink is great for skating in the winter (they should have some outdoor hockey on it this year!) and a few weeks ago is it was being used as a massive dance floor. You could also use the space for outdoor farmers markets without having to hire security and police to close streets. Part of the problem with setting up small events downtown is the cost, to the event and to society. A semi underground, large space can provide a multitude of uses that aren't available anywhere else downtown.

The space has potential, all it is lacking is lounging space, as this monument to ineptitude shows. I don't think this fake beach itself is horrible; I just think it is horrible that IT IS NEEDED! If that hill was grassy instead of bushy, people would lay there, sit there, eat there, and hang out on it, instead of requiring some fake, hill like, object.

Originally Posted by Zassk

Close Robson and run a streetcar or LRT down the whole length of it, from Denman to the stadium.

I agree. I think it would be great if Robson was closed to all except transit, trolley buses for now, and a streetcar in the future, would be perfect.

[SpongeG]

they have a market every weekend already - i don't think anyone is supporting it though - when i have walked past it looked dead

[SpongeG]

800-block of Robson Street has become a political football

If you're familiar with Robson Street in Vancouver, you probably know that the 800-block has been closed to cars for almost two years now. During the 2010 Olympics it became the "heart of the city" as the Province of B.C. sponsored nightly fireworks shows and the very popular Ziptrek line at the site.
With the City of Vancouver about to re-open the street to vehicular traffic in a few weeks, the debate about the future of this part of our road network has begun to flare up once again.

...

http://www.citycaucus.com/2011/08/800-block-of-robson-st-a-political-football

[WBC]

I think 800 block of Robson is getting closed permanently! Woho - first public square in Vancouver

[SpongeG]

what is jack poole plaza if its not a public if its not a public square?

[Pinion]

^It's a public square, but on the edge of a sleepy residential/tourist area and is barely more than a tourist trap thanks to the olympic cauldron.

The Iranian ex-pat anti-government protests were there. Can't think of much else.

[WarrenC12]

Canada Day and COV Birthday stuff was there. It's more for the "organized parties" whereas Robson is just where people hang out.

[WBC]

While there were some plazas and public squares around before they have been notoriously underused as they are out of the way of big crowds (for example plaza by the Waterfront Center).

I hope that this is the fist step and the gradually we can turn parts of Robson into a pedestrian only street or in the worst case into a transit mall.

[Zassk]

Why did we pay money to rebuild the roadway if it is never going to be used as a roadway again? Surely this is a grand waste of money? If the block is to be closed permanently, the space could have been redesigned in many better ways. It seems to me that this idea is 5 years and millions of dollars late.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Zassk

Why did we pay money to rebuild the roadway if it is never going to be used as a roadway again? Surely this is a grand waste of money? If the block is to be closed permanently, the space could have been redesigned in many better ways. It seems to me that this idea is 5 years and millions of dollars late.

Even if this block of Robson was closed to private vehicles, the road (in some shape or form) would still need to be there for the trolley buses and emergency vehicles.

[SpongeG]

that plaza by the convention centre is always busy - people lounging, hanging out all the time - its less intimidating than hanging out next to the street kids and pot heads who hang out at the VAG

[jlousa]

The convention centre plaza will certainly be much busier once the seaplane terminal moves over as well as that Cactus Club and the Harbour Green restaurant open up.

Just not a fan of Robson Square, it's not a public square no matter how much people want it to be. It will always be a half assed attempt, and if there is a need for a square then lets build one. We seem to be more of a city of many small plazas rather then a large square in my opinion.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

that plaza by the convention centre is always busy - people lounging, hanging out all the time - its less intimidating than hanging out next to the street kids and pot heads who hang out at the VAG

Robson Square has been full of all kinds of people this summer. Absolutely nothing to be intimidated by...

[s211]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Robson Square has been full of all kinds of people this summer. Absolutely nothing to be intimidated by...

The intimidators had to move because their beloved staircase was off limits.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

that plaza by the convention centre is always busy - people lounging, hanging out all the time - its less intimidating than hanging out next to the street kids and pot heads who hang out at the VAG

Intimidated by pot heads?

I'd only be concerned if I were a 6' tall hot dog or made of chocolate.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by jlousa

The convention centre plaza will certainly be much busier once the seaplane terminal moves over as well as that Cactus Club and the Harbour Green restaurant open up.

Just not a fan of Robson Square, it's not a public square no matter how much people want it to be. It will always be a half assed attempt, and if there is a need for a square then lets build one. We seem to be more of a city of many small plazas rather then a large square in my opinion.

Agreed. I think much of the fanfare was generated by the fact that Erickson Himself designed it.

Interestingly (going back a few years) I remember the central Hötorget plaza in Stockholm at night. There was nothing seemingly menacing about it, but it was empty, with bored kids playing going down the up escalator and such. It was a banal, disappointing atmoshere.

Hopefully, a major, interesting, institution of some sort could open at RS, and be a real crowd-pleaser, bringing life back to the square.

(... nevertheless, do you you remember the bleak, ugly, moonscape that preceded it? All things are relative ...)

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Intimidated by pot heads?

I'd only be concerned if I were a 6' tall hot dog or made of chocolate.

i'm not intimidated by anything - but tourists are and family types are and those VAG step people scare them

i met a japanese guy and his japanese guide book told him to basically stay away from chinatown and that area as it is very bad and we walked down there and I was like okay this is the area your guide book told you not to go to and he was like oh, its not too bad, we walked right through pigeon park past some whatevers doing their thing on the benches